Pontiacs   Independent Team (1941)

The Pontiacs were a local semipro baseball club from Erie, Pennsylvania. The team was sponsored by the local Pontiac car dealership. The Pontiacs played ball in the Pennsylvania area predominately during the 1930’s to 1940’s.



Independent baseball clubs were an important part of black baseball history. The local independent team provided an excellent opportunity for young ball players to develop and show case their skills. Negro League ball players didn’t start out playing in the Negro National or Negro American League; they started playing on town teams, semipro clubs, industrial league teams or independent teams. The independent teams also gave older players the opportunity to play very competitive baseball and not have to travel too far from home. Most games that were played on an independent schedule were played on a 60/40 basis. The winner of the game got 60 percent of the gate after expenses and the loser of the game got 40 percent.

Teams like the Pontiacs were for many communities the closet thing to Negro League baseball that the fans would ever see.